Recently my friends Pat and David and I were planning a reunion for our old teaching colleagues at Jane Addams, the small inner-city high school where we first met in the 1980s. Pat was our principal then and she was justifiably proud of the school, described by the local press as “an ossis in the south Bronx”. And indeed the blight and devastation in the neighborhood was countered by the warm, nurturing environment within the school, and by the achievements of our...
This past Sunday night, like most of you I bet, we were glued to the couch for this season’s final episode of Downton Abbey. Much has been written about this PBS television series and its portrayal of the historically rigid and inequitable British class system, and the show’s often ridiculous or inexpicable plot lines, and why, despite all that, Americans are so obsessed with it. My friend Marilyn wrote about it humorously on her blog, and Maureen Dowd reminded us in...
I drafted this story days before we got the sad news that my cousin Eric Bercovici died in Hawaii on February 9. His memory is a blessing. I’m from a small family and have always felt close to my aunts and uncles. Now save for my aunt Babs who lives in Florida and I see far too seldom, like my parents they are all gone. My parents were each the middle child of three, and both had strong bonds with their siblings and stayed close despite geography, and sometimes politics. But...
On these cold winter days it’s nice to think about summer sunsets in Menemsha. But first let me tell you a joke. A police car was cruising down the highway when the cop saw the passenger door of the car ahead of him suddenly fly open and a woman come tumbling out. The cop stopped to help the woman, who miraculously was unhurt, and then they sped ahead to catch up with her husband. When the cop pulled him over the husband hadn’t even realized what happened. “What a...
The cultural offerings in this town are amazing and seem to be endless – theatre, film, concerts, art exhibits, lectures, and my own guilty pleasure, literary discussions. One place I can usually count on for a literary fix is the Columbia University Club on W 43 St. In addition to a great restaurant, a well-stocked bar, and a well-stocked library to boot, the Club presents lectures, readings, theatre outings and even a monthly book discussion group. So I was delighted to...
Welcome to my blog World Thru Brown Eyes! Enjoy the read and please leave a comment and tell me how this old world looks thru YOUR eyes!
